Successful treatment of immune-mediated insulin resistance by human insulin (recombinant DNA)

Abstract

An 82-yr-old woman with type II diabetes developed antibody-mediated insulin resistance while on mixed pork-beef insulin concomitantly with a non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Insulin resistance was initially treated with highly purified pork insulin, but this was unsuccessful. Treatment with human insulin (recombinant DNA) was associated with marked decrease of both insulin requirement and high-affinity antibodies, increase of free insulin levels, and improvement of diabetic control. This patient's case shows that human insulin can be considered as an alternative treatment for immune-mediated insulin resistance.